Bandage



July 1 1924.

-D. 0. SEWALL I BANDAGE Filed July 5; 1919 Patented July 1, 1924.

v UNITED S TE DANA O. SEWALL, OF WALPOLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOLEWIS MANUFAC- I TUBING COMPANY, OF WALPOLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ACORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS.

BANDAGE.

. Application filed July 3, 1919. Serial No. 308,388.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANA O. SEWALL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Walpole, in the county of Norfolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Bandages, of whichthe following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicatinglike parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to bandages, sanitary napkins, and the like, andit aims to devise an article of this character which will have greatabsorptive properties, which can be economically manufactured, and whichcan be marketed in a convenient, compact and sanitary condition.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing description when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the.appended claim.

Referring now to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a bandage strip made in accordance with thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on the line 22, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is across sectional view on the line 3- .3, Fig. 1. I

The bandage illustrated is in the form of a long strip, as shown in Fig.1, and has a series of pads made of some absorbent material, such asabsorbent cotton, gauze, or the like, enclosed therein and spaced apartat substantially uniform distances. The strip is made by folding a pieceof fabric 2, preferably gauze. in a manner that will be obvious from aninspection of Figs. 2 and 3, to form a series of superposed folds, theedges of the folds being exposed at one edge only of the strip. The rawedges' of the gauze are turned inwardly, as indicated at, a, so thatthey are enclosed within the strip. The pads 4 also are enclosed withinthe strip, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and preferably are located nextto the outside layer of gauze atone side of the strip so that thedifference in absorptive properties of the two sides of the strip, dueto the fact that the pad is located closer to one face of the strip thanthe other, 'can'be utilized as desired.

It will readily be appreciated that the bandage strip illustrated can bemanufactured very economically since the folding operations are verysimple and can be performed automatically by very simple foldingmachinery. The folds can, for instance, be made by running the piece ofgauze or other fabric from which the strip is made through stationaryfolding dies of a character well known to those familiar with wrappingand folding machinery, and the pads 4 can be inserted one at a timeautomatically at the proper point in the folding operation to enclosethem in the manner illustrated. The invention thus provides a form ofbandage strip which can be very economically manufactured in an entirelyclean and sanitary manner and practically without hand labor.

For merchandising purposes a strip of the required length can be rolledup and placed in a suitable carton, or otherwise wrapped or packaged, tokeep it in a clean and sanitary condition until it reaches the hands ofthe purchaser. In using the bandage strip it is unrolled and one or morebandages out therefrom by severing the strip at a point between thepads, the unused portion of the strip being kept rolled up.

What is claimed as new is:

A bandage of the character described, formed of a narrow strip of gauze,a series of pads of absorbent material arranged on one face of saidgauze, the gauze being foldedinwardly over one edge of said pads andupon the face of the pads and then outwardly again, thegauze at theopposite edge of said pads being folded over the previous folds and thenfolded downwardly and inwardly again over said previous folds and thenoutwardly, the raw edges of the gauze being enclosed in the foldedstripand unexposed.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

DANA O. SEWALL.

